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This week identical bills were introduced in the Texas House and Senate for property tax reform. These bills increase transparency in the property tax system, lower the maximum rate of increase from 8 to 2.5%, and generally empower property owners to take a more active role in rate setting. I know additional legislation will soon follow.

This is a significant first step toward reforming our antiquated property tax system. In addition to this reform, we will still need legislation that will provide true property tax relief to the citizens of Parker and Wise counties. This relief will come through the overhaul of our school finance system and will likely be through a state buy down of local school taxes.

Committees will begin hearings next week. We are at the beginning of the legislative session so there is a long journey ahead for discussions on school finance reform and property tax relief before any effective change. But having identical bills filed in both chambers demonstrates legislative commitment to reform.

We have always known Weatherford and the surrounding areas are a great place to live. With the rolling hills, horses and cattle grazing in the pastures, expanding shopping, entertainment and medical facilities, we get the best of all worlds. Beautiful country surroundings, convenience and easy access to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Welcome To Weatherford!

8 Tips for Adding Curb Appeal and Value to Your Home

Homes with high curb appeal command higher prices and take less time to sell. We’re not talking about replacing vinyl siding with redwood siding; we’re talking about maintenance and beautifying tasks you’d like to live with anyway.

The way your house looks from the street — attractively landscaped and well-maintained — can add thousands to its value and cut the time it takes to sell. But which projects pump up curb appeal most? Some spit and polish goes a long way, and so does a dose of color.

Related: Gorgeous Landscaping for Your House Means More Than Just Looks

Tip #1: Wash Your House’s Face

Before you scrape any paint or plant more azaleas, wash the dirt, mildew, and general grunge off the outside of your house. REALTORS® say washing a house can add $10,000 to $15,000 to the sale prices of some houses.

A bucket of soapy water and a long-handled, soft-bristled brush can remove the dust and dirt that have splashed onto your wood, vinyl, metal, stucco, brick, and fiber cement siding. Power washers (rental: $75 per day) can reveal the true color of your flagstone walkways.

Wash your windows inside and out, swipe cobwebs from eaves, and hose down downspouts. Don’t forget your garage door, which was once bright white. If you can’t spray off the dirt, scrub it off with a solution of 1/2 cup trisodium phosphate — TSP, available at grocery stores, hardware stores, and home improvement centers — dissolved in 1 gallon of water.

You and a friend can make your house sparkle in a few weekends. A professional cleaning crew will cost hundreds — depending on the size of the house and number of windows — but will finish in a couple of days.

Tip #2: Freshen the Paint Job

The most commonly offered curb appeal advice from real estate pros and appraisers is to give the exterior of your home a good paint job. Buyers will instantly notice it, and appraisers will value it. Of course, painting is an expensive and time-consuming facelift. To paint a 3,000-square-foot home, figure on spending $375 to $600 on paint; $1,500 to $3,000 on labor.

Your best bet is to match the paint you already have: Scrape off a little and ask your local paint store to match it. Resist the urge to make a statement with color. An appraiser will mark down the value of a house that’s painted a wildly different color from its competition.

Tip #3: Regard the Roof

The condition of your roof is one of the first things buyers notice and appraisers assess. Missing, curled, or faded shingles add nothing to the look or value of your house. If your neighbors have maintained or replaced their roofs, yours will look especially shabby.

You can pay for roof repairs now, or pay for them later in a lower appraisal; appraisers will mark down the value by the cost of the repair. According to the “2015 Remodeling Impact Report” from the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, the national median cost of a new asphalt shingle roof is about $7,600.

Some tired roofs look a lot better after you remove 25 years of dirt, moss, lichens, and algae. Don’t try cleaning your roof yourself: call a professional with the right tools and technique to clean it without damaging it. A 2,000-square-foot roof will take a day and $400 to $600 to clean professionally.

Tip #4: Neaten the Yard

A well-manicured lawn, fresh mulch, and pruned shrubs boost the curb appeal of any home.

Replace overgrown bushes with leafy plants and colorful annuals. Surround bushes and trees with dark or reddish-brown bark mulch, which gives a rich feel to the yard. Put a crisp edge on garden beds, pull weeds and invasive vines, and plant a few geraniums in pots.

Green up your grass with lawn food and water. Cover bare spots with seeds and sod, get rid of crab grass, and mow regularly.

Tip #5: Add a Color Splash

Even a little color attracts and pleases the eye of would-be buyers.

Plant a tulip border in the fall that will bloom in the spring. Dig a flowerbed by the mailbox and plant some pansies. Place a brightly colored bench or Adirondack chair on the front porch. Get a little daring, and paint the front door red or blue.

These colorful touches won’t add to the value of our house: Appraisers don’t give you extra points for a blue bench. But beautiful colors enhance curb appeal and help your house to sell faster.

Related: Colorful Plants with Curb Appeal

Tip #6: Glam Your Mailbox

An upscale mailbox, architectural house numbers, or address plaques can make your house stand out.

High-style die cast aluminum mailboxes range from $100 to $350. You can pick up a handsome, hand-painted mailbox for about $50. If you don’t buy new, at least give your old mailbox a facelift with paint and new house numbers.

These days, your local home improvement center or hardware stores has an impressive selection of decorative numbers. Architectural address plaques, which you tack to the house or plant in the yard, typically range from $80 to $200. Brass house numbers range from $3 to $11 each, depending on size and style.

Related: 11 Ways to Create a Welcoming Front Entrance for Under $100

Tip #7: Fence Yourself In

A picket fence with a garden gate to frame the yard is an asset. Not only does it add visual punch to your property, appraisers will give extra value to a fence in good condition, although it has more impact in a family-oriented neighborhood than an upscale retirement community.

Expect to pay $2,000 to $3,500 for a professionally installed gated picket fence 3 feet high and 100 feet long.

If you already have a fence, make sure it’s clean and in good condition. Replace broken gates and tighten loose latches.

Tip #8: Maintenance is a Must

Nothing looks worse from the curb — and sets off subconscious alarms — like hanging gutters, missing bricks from the front steps, or peeling paint. Not only can these deferred maintenance items damage your home, but they can decrease the value of your house by 10%.

Here are some maintenance chores that will dramatically help the look of your house:

Select your homeowners’ insurance company early in the home buying process. It may be the insurance company you currently use for your home and/or auto insurance. After you make an offer and have an acceptance on a home purchase you will have a few days to obtain inspections and appraisals. This is the Option Period. During this option period contact your insurance agent and ask that they run a CLUE Report (Comprehensive Loss Underwriters Exchange). A CLUE Report discloses previous claims on the subject property for the past 7 years. Claim history will include the date of the claim, insurance company involved, cause of loss and amounts paid if any, status of the claim and name of the insured and claimant. This information can determine if you will have any issues obtaining insurance for your new home due to water loss, mold or other issues. By having a CLUE Report run for your potential home purchase during the option period you will have time to explore any potential problems and determine how to best mitigate them.

The Title Company will require Homeowners Insurance information before the final loan documents can be drawn. The insurance binder must show the lender requirements so it is imperative the Title Company and your insurance agent are in contact with each other as soon as possible.

Knowing what you need beforehand will make the home buying experience easier.

At Realty World Professionals and as your Realtor, we stay ahead of the Real Estate Market trends and bring you the most value in bringing you information to help you with all your Real Estate needs.

Whether you are thinking of buying or selling Real Estate in Parker County or the Dallas Ft. WorthMetroplex we want to be your Realtors of choice. We have a professional team of Realtors to help you with all your Real Estate Needs.

Call TODAY and get started looking for your dream home. We are here to help you with ALL your Real Estate needs.

Buy or Sell a Home with Us…..Use Our Moving Truck for FREE!

Mark’s mobile 817-690-0954, Pam’s mobile 817-690-0976 or Alicia’s mobile 817-680-7786, or Call our Office 817-441-7707 to talk to one of our very committed, experienced and professional Real Estate agents.

Have a consistent message throughout the process of staging. Use clean and simple furnishing to highlight a space.

2. They created distracting themes and scenes.

Occasionally, though, these scenes and vignettes can go rogue, creating borderline bizarre scenarios that distract and detract more than they help. Stay away from themes and try to stay neutral.

3. The house is neither clean nor clutter-free.

The little messes that a family accumulates through daily living can be perceived by buyers as distracting at best—disgusting, at worse. Do not underestimate the power of piles of clothes, mail, paperwork, dishes or kids’ toys to deactivate the home-selling power. Professional weekly or bi-weekly cleaning during the listing period can be a small investment to help put your house at the top of the list for some buyers.

4. There are glaring gaps.

This often happens when sellers run out of time and money to prepare a place, but it can be avoided through smart advance planning and budgeting for the pre-listing property preparation.

Rooms—Buyers like to look in the garage, closets, cupboards & drawers to check out the space they will have—if they are crammed full of junk, it creates the impression that the house lacks storage and order.

Exterior vs. interior—Some homes have amazing curb appeal, but look like they’ve been run over roughshod on the inside. And the opposite is true. Neither of these is ideal. Make note of the most budget-friendly or simple-to-do projects that may be able to help remedy any eyesores.

Multi-sensory gaps—If a home is beautiful to the eye but smells bad, is strangely hot or cold, or has a noise issue, it may be hard for Buyers to get past those issues. Especially if there are pets, sellers may need a gut check on whether your home is smelly—sellers might be so used to it, that they can’t sense it anymore. Ask an unbiased third party for an opinion. Plug-ins go a long way.

5. The seller lacked a neutral, expert eye.

Home decorating and home staging are two different things. When an owner decorates a home, they customize it with your specific tastes, preferences and aesthetics in mind. When staging it, the goal is to neutralize the home’s look and feel so it appeals to more buyers and doesn’t have turn-off potential.‘Decorating a home is personalizing it. Staging a home is depersonalizing it.’Says Barbara Schwarz, President of the International Home Staging Professionals Association.

Stay away from personal tastes. As an agent I encourage sellers whose homes that have been beautifully decorated to at least have a home staging consultation with me and a professional stager. It is part of my service to give advice about what buyers love.

At Realty World Professionals and as your Realtor, we stay ahead of the Real Estate Market trends and bring you the most value in bringing you information to help you with all your Real Estate needs.Whether you are thinking of buying or selling Real Estate in Parker County or the Dallas Ft. WorthMetroplex we want to be your Realtors of choice. We have a professional team of Realtors to help you with all your Real Estate Needs.Call TODAY and get started looking for your dream home. We are here to help you with ALL your Real Estate needs.Buy or Sell a Home with Us…..Use Our Moving Truck for FREE!

Mark’s mobile 817-690-0954, Pam’s mobile 817-690-0976 or Call our Office 817-441-7707 to talk to one of our very committed, experienced and professional Real Estate agents.